Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-08-12
A Romance Of the Met
ropolis.
Founded upon Notes from the
Diary of Inspector Byrnes.
BY Julian Hawthorne, Author of "Gath,"
etc, etc,
Copyrighted 1887 by o. NJ. Durham

point Yes; no trace of her presence OF
agency would remain. No one knew where
she vas that night-no one would discover
the result of her handiwork for two days at
least-and the instrument of death would
leave no trace. She might be suspected;
indeed, she knew that there was one man
who would certainly suspect her, but it
would be Il suspicion that never could be
averified. On the whole, she did not regret
this. 1t would be piquant to have some
one know what she had done apd we be
powerless to call her to account for it. For
their crimes, as well as for their virtues,
women crave some sort of an audience.
While within she had been debating thus,
externally she had been carrying on the
conversation with Grady. How pleased he
was! Well, she could afford to please him.
She entered into all his schemes and llattered
him and petted him, and every once in a
while her hand came back to that pocket.
How could the man gaze so intently into
her eyes, which offered themselves to him,
and not see the purpose lurking there9 Per-
haps he did see it and mistook it for love,
1t was love-but not for him.
Occasionally she let her glance travel
round the ROOM noting its every feature.
What a dingy place to die III! There was
not a single agreeable object in it. In one
corner on a three-cornered shelf, stood a
water cooler. The box in which the treasure
was packed rested on chair in front of the
window. The paper on the walls was ugly
and shabby. Everything was commonplace
and repulsive, like its owner. But he could
die and that was something's
When should she begin? There was a
cheap clock on the mantlepiece that licked
loudly. 1t marked seven minutes of
eleven She would wait until eleven. The
man, who was looking forward to a lifetime
of gratified passion with her, was already
within a few inches, as it We're, of the eter-
nal precipice. The power and the knowl-
edge. were hers. She was fate, with the
shears in her hand. 1t was an intoxicating
sensation, and she laughed out, with q
musical gurgle of sound. Then she remem.
bered that this was not dream, not a flight
of imagination, but reality. 1t turned
her little faint. She leaned aack in hel
chair. AS she did so her eyes fell on the
clock 1t was already eleven. She drew q
long breath and looked at him.
What ails you, LASS" he said in his alb
surd tender tone. You look peaked
II feel cold" she said "Have you any
wines'
Good enoughn' he exclaimed his face
Frightening. There's a bottle of sherry
every day neither. 1 never was much OF
liquor myself; It's no good for business. Bu
I'm done with business now, and you ant
me will have dram together.'f
He took out the bottle and looked abou
for a corkscrew. There was none to b
found, so he opened his pocketknife anC
attempted to pry the cork out. All this wa
prolonging his life. All at once it occurred
to her that an interruption might occur
some one might come in. This was mat
ter that could not be postponed. If he wer
alive tomorrow, and she failed to keep he
appointment at the steamer wharf, sh
knew that it would be open war between
them, and he would publish to the world al
that the world must never know"
She became nervous and impatient: he
eyes grew larger and very bright
''Give me the knife" she said at length
81 know way.
She took the knife by the blade an,
struck upward against the neck of the bot
tie. The head, with the cork in it, flew OF
at the third blow and some of the wine wa
spilled ON the floor. She looked round fo
u wine glass
There amt such thing in the place,
said Grady. "Never mind, we'll drink GU
of the testle''
sob, no, that will never do We mus
have glasses of some kind.
ON tell you what I'll do!' exclaimed h
in a moment.
'I'll step outside and borrow a couple frol
the saloon on the corner"
She was half inclined to consent to this
but the risk was too great. Haven't yo
any tumbers here?' she asked anxiously.
X Grady went into the next room to see
Presently he returned with rather dirt
~ 4 li,l Il, !,
ped off. Bat it would do. If there wel
only another!
"We'll drink first one then the other,
Grady said, us he poured the wine into til
tumbler. She began to fear that all wa
lost by this ridiculous accident. How coul
she put the contents of her phial into tn
tumbler while he sat there looking on
Suddenly her eye caught a battered ii
cup on the shelf beside the water cooler
That was the solution OF the difficulty Sh
took the tumbler in one hand, while tn
other, in her pocket, removed the stoppe
from the phial. She raised the wine to he
lips and drank it off. As she set the glas
down she exclaimed abruptly: "Oh, there
something, see! that little tin cupn'
"Grady looked around. Sure enough,
said he, at takes woman to tell ma
what's under his own nose! -
He got up and went to the shelf
that moment her hand had slipped out c
her pocket and had made quick moveme1
over the empty glass Grady returned, d
the tin cup ON the table and poured win
into it
And into this too!' she exclaimed, hold
ing out the tumbler.
Once more the yellow wine gurged fror
the broken mouth of the bottle. If it wer
dlscolored by what it mingled with ther